Reading: Isaiah chapter 61 verses 1-11
This chapter starts off with two starkly contrasting truths:
• Both truths are found in verse 2:
• (1st). “The year of the LORD's favour”. (2nd). “The day of vengeance of our God”
Both come out of the previous chapter which ends on the thought that:
• Life, our circumstances, our situations, peoples sinfulness will not just carry on forever.
• One day God will bring them to a sudden end.
• But for now we have an intervening period (e.g. our expression ‘Day of grace’);
• However long or short, is this time of opportunity, we are not told.
• But we are told it is not to be taken lightly,
• For terrible judgment awaits those who ignore it or carelessly let it pass by.
We are going to concentrate this morning, on the time of Gods favour,
• And above all on the person (the Messiah) who ushers it in.
• It begins with him in verses 1-6.
• No-one introduces him;
• He simply speaks for himself,
• Demanding our attention;
• Quite unselfconsciously and without arrogance, but with tremendous authority.
In fact 3 times we are told the source of his authority in verse 1:
• “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me”
• “The LORD has anointed me”.
• “He has sent me”.
• You can’t help but notice this person is sent from God!
• He lays his credentials down for everybody to see.
• This person mentioned is someone of quite extraordinary importance.
We have met him before, of course.
• Cast your mind back to chapter 42 (first servant song of the Messiah):
• Where God spoke and said concerning his servant: “I will put my Spirit on him”.
• And also in chapter 11 verse 1-2 referring to the Messiah who will come:
• “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse…the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him”.
Ill:
• A children’s catechism class was learning the Apostles Creed.
• Each child had been assigned a sentence to repeat.
• The first one said, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
• The second child said, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son…”
• When he had completed his sentence, there was an embarrassing silence.
• Finally, one child piped up, “Teacher, the boy who believes in the Holy Spirit isn’t here.”
In stark contrast to that boy:
• Isaiah informs us again and again and again;
• That the Messiah will be filled with God’s Holy Spirit & full of authority!
Gods Messiah as Isaiah saw him:
• Is both the Servant of chapters 40-55;
• And the Messiah of chapters 1–35.
• Here is the great theological breakthrough of Isaiah's vision and the heart of his gospel.
• The Messiah must suffer and rise again.
• Only then (after this suffering and resurrection;
• Can the year of the LORD'S favour be ushered in.
In this chapter we have a speech by the Servant-Messiah:
• As we look at these verses a reminder that they have a two-fold fulfilment;
• An immediate and a future fulfilment;
• The immediate fulfilment would be the Jews release from the Babylonian exile;
• Their future fulfilment would be in the Messiah – Jesus Christ.
5 Things to note:
(1). Enlightenment (verse 1):
“The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor”.
(C.E.V):
“The Spirit of the LORD God has taken control of me!
The LORD has chosen and sent me to tell the oppressed the good news”,
• In the immediate fulfilment of these verses;
• The poor refers to the Jews in exile;
• But in their future fulfilment;
• They apply to all people of every race and creed.
Ill:
• Luke chapter 14:
• Jesus talking to a prominent Pharisees said in verse 12:
“When you give a dinner or a banquet, don't invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbours. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. 13When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind”.
• Then in the same conversation with the Pharisee,
• Jesus told the parable of the Great banquet.
• Where the invited guests (Jews) refused the invitation to party;
• So the master sent out for the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind (Gentiles).
Quote:
• Somebody described evangelism as;
• “One beggar telling another beggar where to find bread”
Isaiah reminds his hearers that the Messiah is coming with ‘good news’,
• He is coming with the ‘gospel’,
• He is coming to tell hungry beggars that he is ‘the bread of life’.
(2). Encouragement (verse 1b).
• “He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted”
• “To heal the broken-hearted”.
Ill:
• It was William Tyndale (1525) who in his translation
• (In my opinion was probably the greatest translation of all Bibles into English)
• Who introduced this word ‘broken-hearted’ into the English vocabulary;
• When he could not find a word which exactly expressed the Hebrew or Greek text,
• He made up a new word;
• e.g. Broken-hearted, scapegoat, godly, ungodly, peacemaker, even beautiful!
Isaiah tells us that the Messiah is coming to:
• “Bind up the broken-hearted”
• “To heal the broken-hearted”.
My thoughts went to the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls”
Ill:
• The notice board in a large factory carried this sign:
• IN CASE OF ACCIDENT OR INJURY, NOTIFY YOUR SUPERVISOR IMMEDIATELY.
• At the bottom of the notice someone scribbled some graffiti,
• “He’ll kiss it and make it better.”
Well praise God this morning:
• When it comes to the broken hearted;
• Real comfort is found in the Messiah, Jesus Christ!
(3). Escape (verse 1c).
• “To proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”.
• Only the free have the ability to release captives!
Ill:
• In God’s Smuggler, Brother Andrew tells the story of his early life;
• One section deals with his hell-for-leather days in the Dutch army in Indonesia.
• While serving in that area, fighting against Sukarno in the late 1940s
• He bought a young ape, a gibbon, which took to him,
• And Brother Andrew treated him as a pet in the barracks.
• He hadn’t had the gibbon for many weeks
• Before he noticed that when he touched it in some areas around the waist it seemed to hurt him.
• So he examined the gibbon more closely and found a swelling that went around his waist.
• He carefully laid the animal down on his bed and examined him;
• He discovered that when the gibbon had been a baby,
• Someone had tied a piece of wire around his middle and had never taken it off,
• As the monkey grew larger the wire became embedded in his flesh.
• Obviously, it must have caused him a great deal of discomfort.
• So that evening Andrew began the operation,
• Taking his razor and shaving off all the monkey’s hair in a 3” wide swath around his middle.
• He cut ever so gently into the tender flesh until he exposed the wire.
• Eventually he was able to get down to the wire, cut it, and pull it away.
• Instantly, as soon as the operation was over,
• The gibbon jumped up, did a cartwheel, danced around his shoulders,
• And pulled Andrew’s hair in joyful glee.
"After that, my gibbon and I were inseparable. I think I identified with him as strongly as he with me. I think I saw in the wire that had bound him a kind of parallel to the chain of guilt still so tight around myself-and in his release, the thing I too longed for."
Quote: Jesus (John chapter 8 verses 34-36):
“Jesus replied, I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.
35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it for ever.
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
(4). Exchange (verse 3).
“and provide for those who grieve in Zion--to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
We are told in this verse of a triple exchange:
FIRST: CROWN OF BEAUTY FOR ASHES:
• In Bible times the custom for people in mourning or in repentance;
• Was to sit in ashes or to place ashes on your head.
• There is nothing beautiful about ashes.
• But they are symbolic;
• They are the dead remains of something previous.
• They symbolise an end, a finish. No more!
In contrast a crown is something that is to be displayed:
• The crown Isaiah talks about;
• Is not merely functional but beautiful!
• Quote: Tyndale word and means:
• “Combination of qualities that delights the sight or other senses or the mind”.
(2ND). GLADNESS FOR MOURNING.
• It takes 72 muscles to frown and 14 muscles to smile;
• Obviously when a person is in mourning they are sad.
• When a person is in mourning their face is disfigured.
• Not only do they look unhappy but they also look stressed, tired and lifeless;
• The countenance of a mourner appears unlovely
• And of course for very good reasons!
Yet in exchange for our grieving:
• Isaiah tells us that God will give us the oil of gladness.
• Oil was used in Bible times to apply to the face to make the face shine,
• It gave the persons face the very opposite effect of someone was in mourning.
• It gave them a shine, a freshness, a radiance that reflected a persons disposition.
(3RD). A GARMENT OF PRAISE INSTEAD OF A SPIRIT OF DESPAIR.
Ill:
• What we wear often tells about our mood.
• When we go to a funeral, we often wear black.
• Black, typically, is a colour of clothing is serious and sombre.
• We don’t see too may people who wear Hawaiian shirts to funerals.
• Isaiah informs us that the Messiah will take our black clothes of mourning;
• And exchange them for clothes of praise.
Noting:
• The spirit of heaviness is inward;
• The burden, the concern, the sense of inadequacy.
• In contrast the garment of praise is outward;
• We display to others our praise to God, these others can see and take notice.
(5). Establishment (verses 3b-4).
“They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendour.
This verse is a good summary text:
• The people who have received the Messiah;
• And who have experienced the thins mentioned in verse 3,
• Are like sturdy trees abounding in healthy foliage.
• These persons are sturdy living symbols of salvation (ill: Psalm 1).
Conclusion:
These verses in Isaiah were twice quoted by Jesus in the gospels:
First:
• In Luke chapter 4 verses 18-19:
• Jesus stood up in the synagogue and read this portion of Isaiah to the people present.
• Verse 20: He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant & sat down.
• That was a sign he was going to speak to the congregation.
• Verse 20b: “The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him”
• Every Jew knew that this portion of Isaiah referred to the Messiah.
• The Jesus made what to his hearers was an incredible claim;
• “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.
• With these words Jesus was declaring;
• The time was right for him to reveal himself as the Messiah;
• The one who would demonstrate publicly; “The year of the LORD's favour”.
• By preaching good news, setting prisoners free, sight to the blind & release for the oppressed
Notice:
• Notice Jesus deliberately stopped short in his reading;
• He did not quote “the day of vengeance”.
• Not because he did not believe in it,
• But because that was yet to come.
• His first coming (as recorded in the gospels):
• Was to bring the ministry of salvation. ‘The day of grace’
• But his second coming;
• Will mark the inauguration day of vengeance of our God, the day of judgement.
(Second): Jesus also quoted Isaiah chapter 61:
• In Luke chapter 7 verse 22:
• He quoted these words as a message for John the Baptist.
“So he replied to the messengers, Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor”.
Question: Can anyone spot the difference between the two quotes from Isaiah in Luke?
Answer:
• To John the Baptists disciples;
• Jesus reversed the order of the things mentioned.
• John was in prison and he had heard about these healings;
• Verse 17: “This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country”.
• But the greatest thing the Messiah would do, was left to last.
• Physical healings only last for this life (10, 20, 40, 60 years!)
• But the ‘Good News’ that the Messiah would preach;
• Would change lives for all eternity!
• So Jesus tells John’s disciples;
• Tell him what you see (my actions) and what you hear (my message).
• For John the question was answered;
• His ministry was complete,
• For the Messiah had come to build on John’s ministry;
• And fulfil it completely!
